The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life, the Center for African American Studies, the Center for the Arts, the Theater Department, the Writing Program, and Yale School of Drama have joined forces to present a week of events that highlight the art of playwriting. The series of talks, performances, and readings culminate in Wesleyan’s first conference on playwriting pedagogy and creative processes. Though the conference is closed to participants, all events are open to the public and several are free—so please help us spread the word!
Best,
Claudia (Theater Department)
Friday to Sunday, February 24-26
Playwriting Conference:
Contemporary Conventions, Cultural Innovations, Playful Traditions
The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life
Conference curators: Cláudia Tatinge Nascimento (Theater Department) and Ken Prestininzi (Yale School of Drama).
International guests: Brazilian playwright Newton Moreno and theater scholar Alberto Tibaji.
Participants: Migdalia Cruz (NO Passport), Erik Ehn (Brown University), Marcus Gardley (Hartford Stage, Brown University), Quiara Alegría Hudes (Wesleyan University, In the Heights), Elizabeth Jackson (Wesleyan University), Matthew Maguire (New Dramatists, Fordham University), Deb Margolin (New Dramatists, Yale University), Charlotte Meehan (Wheaton College), Frank Pugliese (Yale University), Lucy Thurber (New Dramatists, Sarah Lawrence College), Wesleyan undergraduate playwriting students and members of Captain Partridge, graduate playwriting students from Brown University and Yale School of Drama.
Events calendar:
Monday, February 20
7pm: screening of Young Jean Lee’s The Shipment, CFA Hall. FREE
“Cultural images of black America are tweaked, pulled and twisted like Silly Putty in this subversive, seriously funny new theater piece by the adventurous playwright Young Jean Lee… Ms. Lee sets you thinking about how we unconsciously process experience — at the theater, or in life — through the filter of racial perspective, and how hard it can be to see the world truly in something other than black and white.”
— Charles Isherwood, New York Times
http://youngjeanlee.org/the_shipment
Tuesday, February 21
8pm: an evening talk with Young Jean Lee, Memorial Chapel. FREE
Korean-born and Brooklyn-based playwright and director Young Jean Lee’s works deal with issues such as gender identity and race in unpredictable, inventive and humorous ways. A 2011 Guggenheim Fellow, Ms. Lee founded her own theater company in 2003, swiftly becoming one of this country’s most influential voices in experimental theater.
Thursday, February 23
8pm: An Evening of Spoken Word with Javon Johnson at Crowell Concert Hall
Spoken word/slam poet Javon Johnson merges the sharp criticism of critical race and gender theory with comedy, lyricism and hip-hop rhyme schemes to discuss the power of words, communication and performance. Mr. Johnson has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam and BET’s Lyric Cafe, and co-wrote the poetic narration for Showtime’s basketball documentary Crossover.
Friday, February 24, 8pm
Good Goods by Christina Anderson, directed by Tina Landau. Yale Repertory Theatre.
Saturday, February 25
7pm & 10pm: SPILL, co-created by Leigh Fondakowski and Reeva Wortel
Fayerweather Beckham Hall
A collaboration between writer Leigh Fondakowski (The Laramie Project, The People’s Temple, I Think I Like Girls) and visual artist Reeva Wortel (American Portrait Project), SPILL is a new play and installation that explores the true human and environmental cost of oil. SPILL is based in part on interviews with people from the Gulf Coast of southern Louisiana in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of April 2010, the largest environmental disaster in United States history.
Sunday, February 26
2pm & 7pm: SPILL, co-created by Leigh Fondakowski and Reeva Wortel
Fayerweather Beckham Hall